In the News (Sat 10 Dec 16)

Penn recounted in the letter how he had waited for an invitation to Google's e-mail service for a year and a half before receiving one earlier this month.

Penn admitted that the painful experience of not being able to communicate freely through e-mail had its upside.

Penn ended his statement by reiterating his demand that the SeanPenn user-name holder reveal his identity, assuring him that he will not retaliate with punitive measures or even ask that the e-mail address be relinquished.

Penn stole the show as Jeff Spicoli, drawing on his surfer experience to play the ultimate drop-out dude, antagonisng the teachers, ordering pizzas from the classroom and introducing the national catch-phrase "Let's party!" Alongside him once more were Leigh and Edwards, as well as Judge Reinhold, Eric Stoltz, Forest Whitaker and Nicolas Cage.

Penn researched the role by visiting the LA Goal centre (two of the residents are in the movie, as Sam's friends), folding teeshirts and stuffing envelopes and both watching and befriending those with development disabilities.

Penn was tremendous as a father jealously guarding his daughter, then aggressively seeking revenge for her death, his hatred, suspicion and barely controlled violence created much of the film's tension.

Penn's part in "The Thin Red Line" is not as fully rounded as the one he has in "Hurlyburly," but even working with a script largely dictated by the visual (there is almost no spoken dialogue in the Malick film, just voiceovers), Penn managed to infuse his lines with depth.

When SeanPenn's mother went to see him in his first play, a stage version of the film “The Young Savages,” in which he portrayed a mentally retarded boy accused of murder; she told him he'd have to quit acting and go to college.

Penn, who is dressed in his usual fl suit and white shirt, has come straight from Woody Allen's set and is sitting next to Drazan, the director of "Hurlyburly." Streep, who is wearing a fl pantsuit, arrives and kisses Penn on both cheeks.

SeanPenn is the second of three sons born to actress Eileen Ryan and director Leo Penn. Older brother Michael is a respected musician (having recently done music on films such as Boogie Nights and Magnolia) and younger brother Christopher is also an actor (Footloose, Reservoir Dogs, Short Cuts).

Penn was born and bred in the showbiz milieu, is acknowledged as one of the most talented actors of his generation, and has nothing but contempt for the Hollywood machine.

Already a star at age 24, Penn's acting career was sidelined by his personal life in 1985, when a visit to the set of Madonna's Material Girl video shoot turned into a trip down the aisle later that year.

Occasionally slugging it out with photographers and film extras may have gotten SeanPenn into trouble in the past, but luckily for worldwide audiences, he seems to have outgrown his bad-boy ways -- and settled into some serious acting (not to mention a serious relationship and family with actress Robin WrightPenn).

Penn has to be in control and he's going to be a loudmouth while he's at it.

Even Penn may not know for sure, but this aspect may be the one that attracts him to such strange and surreal films as Hurlyburly and U Turn.

SeanPenn broke his silence following his controversial trip to Iraq with an interview last night on CNN's ''Larry King Show'' by saying he went to Baghdad seeking information, but doesn't feel he is in a position to share what he learned with the American people.

Penn said repeatedly he is not a pacifist, but said he opposed a U.S. attack on Iraq without proof the country has weapons of mass destruction and plans to use them against America.

Penn said he undertook the fact-finding trip out of an ''increasing feeling of shame on my own part in not participating in what, for me, was not necessarily so much a political but a  to the degree that humanitarianism and civic responsibility are the same thing.''

D.C., Penn said that ``as a father, an actor, a filmmaker and a patriot'' his visit to Iraq ``is for me a natural extension of my obligation...

Penn said he was happy that he had a chance ``to pursue a deeper understanding of the conflict'' and hoped that ``all Americans will embrace information available to them outside conventional channel.''

Penn's three-day visit to Iraq was organized by the Institute for Public Accuracy, which has offices in Washington and San Francisco.

His marriage to Madonna (1985-89) thrust Penn further into the spotlight, and he went from being known as an intense young actor to being known as an intense young actor who punched photographers (he even spent a brief time in jail for assault in 1987).

SeanPenn's younger brother, Christopher Penn (1965-2006), was also a film actor, and his older brother, Michael Penn (b.

It touches upon concernsso rarely articulated in the mediaof broad layers of the population, such as the corporate domination of the Bush government, the assault on free speech, and the use of lies to justify a militaristic and predatory foreign policy, most clearly exposed by the absence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Penn, with more than 20 years in films, three Academy Award nominations and three directorial efforts to his credit, attempts in his somewhat idiosyncratic manner to link his deep feelings for his children and his late father to wider issues, including the future of American society and the meaning of patriotism.

Penns suggestion that the US is threatened with being overtaken by reactionary elements, that we are on the verge of losing our flag, is a misstatement of the historical case.

SeanPenn coordinated his trip with Medea Benjamin, who was leading a contingent of military families to Iraq under the auspices of both Global Exchange and Occupation Watch.

Penn twists a soldier's words to imply America is fixing Iraqi elections and makes the obligatory reference to the Florida recount.

In one revealing exchange, Penn records a young Iraqi's statement: “This whole country is a mass grave.” At that very moment, “the fatigue of the trip hits me in the back of the head like a rocket-propelled grenade,” as though Penn were psychosomatically avoiding a confrontation with his own hypocrisy.

Fortunately Penn was with his personal assistant, a kickboxing coach, and the pair "grabbed the guy, ran him through the room to the balcony and hung him over - on the ninth floor", the actor writes in a new biography by RICHARD KELLY.

Penn then discovered the man was a paparazzi photographer and hauled him back on the balcony, but the police were called and the star arrested.

Penn had planned to rescue children and adults in the flood waters, but apparently forgot to plug a hole in the bottom of the vessel, which began taking water within seconds of its launch.

Penn who is known for his political activism, was seen wearing what appeared to be a white flak jacket and frantically bailing water out of the sinking vessel with a red plastic cup that eventually was not enough for the Academy Award winner.

SeanPenn is one of my favorite present day camera whores, a relatively untalented pseudo-actor who got lucky with one film and now thinks he's God's gift to the world.

At the time, Penn was welcomed by Saddam Hussein, who intended to enlist Penn into his propaganda army of useful idiots from the democratic Westall in an effort to save his dictatorial regime.

Ironically, they may yet fail, in part, because of SeanPenn. Iranian bloggers and student leaders inside Iran have informed me that Penns presence in Iran is having the unwanted (for the actor and Global Exchange) effect of galvanizing the Iranian youth in its stance against the Mullahs.

Penn works overtime to give terrorists a cushion for their actions and laugh at Americans who love their country and hate the enemy.

SeanPenn hasn't been in a good movie since "Dead Man Walking" or, even earlier in his career in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." But his range as an actor really shines in his latest tearjerker, "I am Sam." The...

SeanPenn starred in the story of boy and his pals who enlist in a criminal gang led by his ruthless dad in At Close Range.

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